Sex discrimination is broader than many realize, extending even to the interplay between an employee’s appearance and gender stereotypes. This concept was recently addressed in Bonson v. Hanover Food, No. 1:19-cv-54, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56897 (M.D. Pa. Apr. 1, 2020), where the court denied summary judgment after finding that the employee had stated a viable claim for sex discrimination based on gender stereotyping and that numerous factual disputes required a jury’s consideration.
Constant Harassment Culminates in Termination
Tyler Bonson worked at Hanover Foods Corp. (Hanover) for nearly a decade, most recently as a freezer operator. During his employment, Bonson allegedly endured near-daily harassment from his supervisors based on their perception that—because he took greater care with his appearance than his coworkers—he must have been homosexual. In particular, Bonson alleged that one of his direct supervisors, Robert Smoyer, as well as Hanover’s human resources representative, Page Gaddis, repeatedly referred to, and about, him using various well-known homophobic slurs, as well as more targeted ones like calling him “the freezer fairy.”
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